Dressing for Success: Types of Dress Shirts

by Simple TailorMay 04, 2019

It’s called by many different names: button shirt, button-front shirt, button-up shirt, button-down shirt. But its more popular name is ‘dress shirt.’

To the uninitiated, the term ‘dress shirt’ might sound like a woman’s dress with a short cut. A dress shirt is actually a men’s garment with a collar and a top-to-bottom opening at the front. The opening is fastened by either buttons or shirt studs.

Depending on where you’re going to use them, dress shirts also have different types.

Formal Dress Shirt

As the name easily implies, these are shirts worn for black tie events (awarding ceremonies, weddings, etc.). These are events that give you an opportunity to really dress up and show your estimable side.

Formal dress shirts, given the formal occasions they’re going to be worn at, require very precise attention to detail. Much care has to be given to the type of fabric used, the cut, and even the color. All these factors play a huge role in determining how formal or less formal your dress is going to appear.

Business Dress Shirts

Slightly less formal than the previous type, business dress shirts are those worn at formal or semi-formal business events such as conferences, seminars, and even client meetups.

There can be varying degrees of formality for business dress shirts: business attire, business casual and office attire. The latter is something you’d wear in the workplace, while the first ones are more appropriate for business conferences or meetings. Of course, no one’s stopping you from wearing a business attire in the workplace regularly, especially if your job and position calls for you to always look sharp and dandy.

Office Dress Shirts

This is pretty much the third type of business dress shirts. These are the shirts you wear daily at work. The type of office dress shirt you’ll wear will ultimately depend on your company’s culture.

If your workplace embraces a less strict environment in terms of the outfits worn, you can have more freedom in choosing what suits your fancy (or mood) on a particular day. Of course, if your job requires you to put in long hours daily, the primary determiner of what you’re going to wear is comfort.

Seasonal

There are also dress shirts that suit the season. Needless to say, dress shirts with thick fabric are more suitable during winter and are, therefore, out of place when the mercury starts to rise.

Whether you’re going to receive an award for being the Best Employee of the Year, or you’re just going for a night out on the town, be sure to suit up appropriately.

Need dress shirt suggestions? Contact Simple Tailor. Whether you want to get dressed to the nines or get all dressed up and nowhere to go, we’re here to help.